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Caroline has created a system where she can sort all her sources by type using a coding system for each source type. Below is her explanation of this procedure:

I start each source abbreviation with a 2 to 4 letter code for source type eg BK (book), CEN (census), PR (parish register), WILL (will) etc. Sorting the MSL by abbreviation then groups all sources of a given type together. It is then easy to access each different source type by entering its initial letters.

I also use the 3 letter Chapman county code, the placename, the surname, forename and date in the source abbreviation, where relevant.

So, the source abbreviations for censuses look like this:

CEN 1851 BDF, Dean

CEN 1901 HAM, Christchurch

for wills:

WILL EATON Samuel 1812

WILL EATON William 1696

for books:

BK HAM Christchurch Watermills

BK KEN Gravesend History

BK LND Streets of

for parish registers:

PR HAM Christchurch Bap

PR KEN Gravesend Bur

for birth certificates:

BC BENTLEY Joseph 1840

BC EATON Alice 1882

For books that are surname-centric I use:

BK * BRUNSKILL Joseph

BK * CORBOULD Genealogy

I use * to identify non-geographic-centric books and separate them from the geographic-centric titles, which I want to sort together by county. Putting the surname in capitals makes the surname-centric ones stand out from others in the non-geographic-centric list. I use the same divisions for websites/pages.

Using this system I can Search the MSL, by abbreviation, for any of the standard elements - county code, place name, date, surname etc, and find all sources related to Hampshire, the Eaton family or whatever. Using the Search Again button takes you from source to source, hopping down the list.